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TECHNOLOGY Thursday 6 July 2017

As cyberattack hit, Ukrainians turned to Facebook, Google

By RAPHAEL SATTER board to the web and to
AP Cybersecurity Writer our Facebook page,” se-
BORYSPIL, Ukraine (AP) — nior airport official Yevhenii
When departure informa- Dykhne said in an interview
tion disappeared from Kiev this week. “We got 10,000
airport’s website after last views on YouTube.”
week’s cyberattack, em- Infrastructure Minister
ployees trained a camera Volodymyr Omelyan said
on the departure board the outbreak had shown
and broadcast it to You- that the Silicon Valley’s
Tube. When government “cloud” was much more
servers were switched off, resilient “than a Ukrainian
officials posted updates physical server standing
to Facebook. And with the alone in a post office,”
disruption continuing, of- a reference to one of
fice workers have turned Ukraine’s worst-hit agen-
to Gmail to keep their busi- cies .
nesses going. But he expressed reserva-
As Ukraine’s digital infra- tions about leaning too
structure shuddered under heavily on American com-
the weight of last Tuesday’s puting power in times of
cyberattack, Silicon Val- need. After all, what would
ley firms played an outsize Ukraine’s infrastructure minister Volodymyr Omelyan talks at an interview to the Associated Press happen if a differently tai-
role in keeping information in his office in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 4, 2017. Associated Press lored cyberattack brought
flowing, an illustration both the cloud crashing down?
of their vast reach and their toppled the Russia-friendly knew that Silicon Valley ious passengers could no “Definitely we should build
unofficial role as a kind of leader Viktor Yanukovich in firms put an “enormous fo- longer access departure a much more sustainable
emergency backup sys- 2014. Today, government cus on the security of the information from the web. network in case of emer-
tem. Google’s mail service agencies regularly post of- cloud services.” “So in front of the departure gency,” he said. “We can-
has been keeping the lights ficial statements to their Private businesses and board we set up a web- not just rely on Facebook
on at some firms after their Facebook walls and press even government offices cam which broadcast the as a backup.”q
email servers down, while officers eschew emails to are still relying at least in
Facebook is credited as a chat with journalists over part on Silicon Valley firms’
critical platform for digital Facebook Messenger. email and chat services, Volvo goes electric, ditches
first responders. “Facebook in Ukraine is mainly as a substitute for
“Our war room, nation- a big thing,” said Dmytro downed mail servers. Vic- cars powered solely by gas
wide, migrated to Face- Shymkiv, the deputy head tor Zhora, the chief execu-
book,” said Andrey Chigar- of Ukraine’s presidential tive of Kiev-based Infosafe,
kin, the chief information administration and a for- said two of the firms he’s By MATTI HUUHTANEN makers leading the way.
security officer at a Kiev- mer director of Microsoft helping to recover from the Associated Press “I think we’ll probably
based gaming firm and Ukraine. outbreak have switched HELSINKI (AP) — Volvo see most of the premium
active participant in the Shymkiv was among the to Gmail as they try to plans to build only electric brands do the same thing
early hours of the online many officials to post up- get back on their feet. In and hybrid vehicles starting in roughly the same time
response. “All the news — dates about the outbreak one pediatric clinic in the in 2019, making it the first frame,” he said. “More
bad, good — was coming as it happened (to Face- Kharkivskyi area of Kiev, major automaker to aban- high-volume mainstream
through Facebook.” book, naturally.) In an in- Dr. Lidiia Podkopaieva says don cars and SUVs pow- brands will be a little slow-
Facebook has a relatively terview at his office, he staff turned to Facebook- ered solely by the internal er.”
low take up in Ukraine, said that “the cloud” — a owned WhatsApp to co- combustion engine. In order to meet govern-
counting between 8 to 9 marketing term for the pool ordinate their work at the CEO Hakan Samuelsson ment fuel economy re-
million monthly active us- of sometimes free comput- facility after half their com- said the move was dictat- quirements worldwide, au-
ers compared to 10 to 15 ing power offered by the puters were wiped out. ed by customer demand. tomakers are developing
million in Poland, a neigh- likes of Google, Facebook, Some workarounds were It means that in two years, more hybrid systems that
bor of roughly the same Microsoft, Amazon and more creative than others. all new Volvo vehicles will use both gas engines and
size, according to figures many others — provided At Boryspil Airport, out- have some form of electric electric motors.
provided by analytics firm the safety and redundan- side Kiev, officials faced propulsion. Many are 48-volt “mild
SocialBakers. But it’s still a cy that many businesses in a quandary when they The rest of the auto indus- hybrids” that assist a gas
powerful medium there Ukraine lacked. switched off their auto- try is likely to make similar engine to move a car to
and is credited with be- “It’s a global backup,” he mated systems Tuesday. moves in a few years, said make it more efficient, im-
ing an accelerant for the said, adding that, as a for- Although the airport was Sam Abuelsamid, senior proving gas mileage by 10
protest movement that analyst for Navigant Re- or 15 percent, Abuelsamid
mer tech executive, he operating smoothly, anx- search, with luxury auto- said. q